Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Dele Ezeoba, has blamed the rising spate of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft on lack of diligent prosecution of suspects by relevant agencies.
Ezeoba, who spoke on Sunday in Brass, Bayelsa State, after a tour of the creeks and military formations in the Central Naval Command, observed that while security operatives, including the Navy had performed their duties by arresting suspected oil thieves, prosecution agencies had failed to discharge theirs diligently.
Ezeoba noted that there would be reduction in the breach of pipelines and stealing of petroleum products if agencies vested with the power of prosecution arraigned suspects and got them jailed.
The agencies vested with the power of prosecuting oil thieves are the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Police.
The Navy chief said, “The law enforcement agencies that have responsibility for prosecution should ensure that those culprits who have been caught charged to court are prosecuted and jailed.
“That will serve as a deterrent for would-be perpetrators. What we find is that there is more of the surveillance and response but that of enforcement is negligible. This kind of frustrates the efforts of the officers and men, who put their lives on the line to fight this scourge.”
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